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Well not too much has happened lately on my project. My company got consumed by a bigger company and all the stuff I have to do in the transfer between companies has made for many long days. Monday I am on a plane to Orlando for another conference which lasts all week. So there is another week out of pocket.

I did finally get in the garage tonight and using the stud-welder I started to pull out a crease that was in the drivers side quarter panel which looked to be an extension of door dent. So I have it pretty much up to correct level. Just need to do a little metal finishing to smooth it out. I never realized that the rear quarter wheel well is double paneled. This made use a hammer and dolly not an option beacuse you cant access the back side of the outter panel. So the stud welder worked it's wonder from the top side. Nothing better that a few well place studs, and few taps from a slide hammer and the panel then "burbs" and pops basically back to it's original shape. Obviously there is a little stretching and warping from the actual collision that caused the damage that needs to be smoothed out.

So time for a little update on my project. I have been working on the dents on the rear driver side door and rear quarter here the car was side swipped at some point in it's past.

The rear 75% of the rear door scallop was collapsed in. So a little hammer and dolly work, a stud welder, and a torch has brought it all pretty much back out. Just a little more metal working to smooth out some of the wrinkles.

I also used the stud welder and the torch to pull the crease out of the rear quarter.

Also included are some pics of the items that blasted with glass bead using the blaster at the school. Throttle linkage, headlight buckets, air vent tubes, wiper motor, and a few other small parts.

Also here is one of the fron drums were I soaked in Evaporust overnight. The inside it now pretty darn clean. It was very rusty before.

The last couple of pics are just pics of the garage and a rear seat bottom I bought to replace the my current one that has a rusted through frame.

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Well a few updates. I painted the vent ducting, throtle linkage, headlight buckets. I also was finally able to get under the dash and remove the hood hinges, and heater box. Removeing the glovebox made this alot easier.

Firewall is now clear so I can degrease it and then touch up the paint.

One part I saw at the Swap Meet I went to was new reproduction defroster vent hoses, I should have bought them as my hoses just fell apart when I touched them.

Also is anyone reproducing the cardboard heater distribution box thingy? Mine is basically in pieces (dry rot).

I also finished painting the front drums.

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Well just worked for about an hour in the garage this evening. So I decided to pull the heaterbox apart to see what shape the heater core was it. Suprisingly the core was in very good shape. The bottom of the heater box has some surface rust, but besides that its in good shape. The factory markings are still on the bottom of the outside of the heater box, and on the core itself. I soaked the gaskets in PB Blaster to try to revive them, or at least get them off it one piece to use as a good template.

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Well didnt get too much done on the car this past weekend. I was busy working on the code for the Dealer list most of Sunday.

Wife offered to buy my a Small Blast Cabinet for father's day, but Harbor Frieght was out of stock. So I have my rain check slip in hand waiting for them to come back in. I was so spoiled be able to use one in class, that going to back a wire wheel to clean parts seems barbaric now, and hence the pile of small/med sized parts waiting to be clean and painted.

On a more productive note, I won my ebay auction and managed to pick up an 18" Masking machine pretty cheap. I also got spoiled using one of those in class. They really do make the job masking a car for primer and paint SO much easier, and for $50 it will pay for itself in time saved. If you have never used one, I highly recomend one!

I hopefully plan on using this next weekend to mask off the areas adjacent to the firewall before I repaint it. So the cowl, doors, windshield, engine, and frame rails will all get masked off.

Well it's 11:30pm here in Atlanta, and I have meetings in the morning...so I am off to bed.

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Kev

You are truly 'resurrecting' this old Packard. I admire all the labor, patience, energy, ingenuity an engine-uity that you are putting into it. WOW what a complete project.

I have been doing mostly 'surface' work on my older-restored 41 Clipper. I have nothing like the level of what you are into.

You will have a beauty. It is showing already in the progression of pictures. I haven't looked for any classes like you described. Are they offered at a local Tech School? How did you get started with your class?

DanL

Thanks for the feedback!

The classes I am referring to were at the local community college. The local college here is actually a pretty big campus about the size of a small university. So they have some really good programs. I took the autobody class. But they have also have dedicated paint, frame, engine bottom end, engine top end, Toyota Factory Cert, GM Factory Cert, Ford Factory Cert, Upholstery, Manual and Automatic Trans classes. So it's a decent sized automotive program.

If you pick up this month's issue of Custom Classic Truck magazine, there are pictures of me and the rest of my class doing the body work on a project truck.

Well my rain-checked Blast-Cabinet finally came in at Harbor Freight. I works pretty well using 80 grit glass bead. My compressor probably is not the best for running a Cabinet, but it is keeping up at 100 psi while I am running it.

I just need to get a decent water trap as it is starting to clump the bead. But you can see some of the parts on the bench I have started to blast.

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Greetings Thanks for sharing the pictures and info of your Packard with me I guess I am spoiled as I only need to change the color of my motor for Green to Gray, and that should not be as big of a deal as you have undertaken WOW. Any tips on how to go about repainting my motor,I will most certainly have to use a brush to do it.

Well you are going to want to degrease the old engine as much as you possibly can. I would use Brake Clearer and a wire brush. Also take any surface rust down to bare metal. To do the job right, you really have to remove the front fenders to give you access to everything.

Once degreased, you will need to scuff any remaining paint with a scotch-brite pad, or maybe some 240 sand paper to give it some tooth for the new paint to hold onto.

Also just before painting, use a clean rag and wipe the motor down again with thinner to remove any grease, oil, and any dust left over from the scuffing process or else anything left on the surface.

Take your time, and read the instruction on the can carefully. Make sure you stir that paint throughly, and scrape every inch of the bottom of the can with the stir stick while you are stiring it.

I put on a coat. Let it cure for about a week, and then went back and touched up any thin spots. If you try to touch up the spot before it's cured, it could lift on you.